Dr. Wendy A. Okolo

Dr. Wendy Okolo is an aerospace engineering researcher at NASA where she leads an effort to develop the assessment and mitigation capabilities to enable the safe operations of unmanned vehicles in the U.S. airspace. She also leads a controls team on a space technology project to advance the guidance and control technologies that will enable precision landing for Deployable Entry Vehicles. She is the first black woman to obtain a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington, the recipient of the 2019 NASA Ames Early Career Researcher Award, the 2019 Women In Aerospace Award for Initiative, Inspiration & Impact, and the 2019 Black Engineer of the Year Award for Most Promising Engineer in U.S. Government.